Carly Pearce Recalls Nearly Giving Up On Music: I Was Called ‘Dated’ & Urged To Leave Nashville

It's been years in the making, but Carly Pearce's debut album is here -- and in this EXCLUSIVE interview, she tells us all about how she fought the critics HARD to pursue the career she's always dreamed of!

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Carly Pearce first moved to Nashville when she was just 19 years old, and itā€™s taken eight years for her to finally release a studio album. ā€œI had a record deal, I lost it, had a publishing deal, I lost it. I cleaned Air B&Bs, I nannied, I was Lucy Haleā€™s back-up singer for a while, so there were moments in there when I wondered if this was actually going to happen,ā€ she tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. ā€œThere were moments that I thought maybe I shouldnā€™t continue. I was told to move home, told I was dated. People passed on ā€œEvery Little Thingā€ a month before it came out. So there were definitely moments, but I think in my heart, it was what I was meant to do. Sometimes chasing after a dream takes time and it takes growing up and figuring out who you are as an artist and as a person. I think that I got lucky that I was able to do that not in the spotlight.ā€

She finally caught her big break when SiriusXMā€™s ā€œThe Highwayā€ started playing her song ā€œEvery Little Thing,ā€ and it received insane airplay. A record label came next, and less than a year later, her album, Every Little Thing, dropped on Oct. 13. ā€œIt felt like every birthday or Christmas that Iā€™ve ever had in my life all wrapped up in one,ā€ the 27-year-old gushed. ā€œIā€™ve dreamed of doing this forever, so it just kind of feels like a sigh of relief and a large celebration to have it out there.ā€ Carly said she considers the album ā€œa collection of 13 songs that are truly snippets of my life,ā€ including one track, ā€œDare Ya,ā€ for the fans whoā€™ve been with her since the very beginning.

Another major milestone is out of the way now that the album is here, but that doesnā€™t mean Carly will be slowing down any time soon. ā€œI love country music, thatā€™s all I want,ā€ she revealed. ā€œI want to be one of the names you think of in 40 years who made a stamp and a mark on the genre. I just want to be one of those first name, you donā€™t have to say my last name because you already know it the way you know Dolly [Parton], Shania [Twain] or Reba [McEntire]. Itā€™s a good time to be a girl in country music.ā€

HollywoodLifers, are you loving Caryā€™s album?